Storms Change Plans: The Chesapeake Bae's First Week on the Bay

The Chesapeake Bae learns as she goes

When we first met 22-year-old Delia Repasky a couple of weeks ago, she was getting ready to leave the dock for her solo sailing adventure.

Delia had never cruised alone before. She wasn't even sure what to pack. But she gamely took off anyway, in Second Wind, a borrowed Catalina 27, determined to show locals that "if she can do it, anyone can."

Exactly one week into the trip, the self-proclaimed "Chesapeake Bae" ('bae' is slang for 'babe', and is also sometimes used as an acronym for "Before Anyone Else") has encountered her share of challenges.

A storm Friday evening forced her to change her planned destination of Rock Hall. She wound up ducking into the Magothy, behind Gibson Island, where she discovered she didn't have sufficient anchor chain to hold in rough weather. With support from Chesapeake Bay Magazine, she found a slip at Gibson Island Boat Works to ride out the storm. She had buckets and pots catching rain drips all over the boat's cabin.

When some old friends read about her plight on her @the_chesapeakebae Instagram account, they showed up at the dock to invite her to their home for dinner.

Delia learned one of the first rules of Bay sailboat cruising: don't get to attached to your destination, because weather and other circumstances can get in the way.

The Chesapeake Bae did eventually make it to Rock Hall, where she's been enjoying all that Haven Harbor Marina has to offer. She's even making friends with her dockmates.

During her downtime, Delia will get an extra coaching session from the Annapolis School of Seamanship. She'll practice tacking, reefing the sail on her own, and work on passage planning and navigating before the next leg of her trip.

Keep watching Delia learn as she goes: we'll be posting her successes and her lessons learned all summer on Facebook and Instagram.